Thursday, November 10, 2016

In the week ending November 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 254,000, a decrease of 11,000 from
the previous week's unrevised level of 265,000. The 4-week moving average was 259,750, an increase of 1,750 from the previous
week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 257,750 to 258,000.

There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims. This marks 88 consecutive weeks of initial claims below
300,000, the longest streak since 1970.

The previous week was unrevised.

The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.

Click on graph for larger image.

The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased to 259,750.

This was lower than the consensus forecast. The low level of claims suggests relatively few layoffs.